Was out again last night and had a small 8 chasing a doe around really hard. Should have heard the racket they were making through the woods. Good luck to you all....

Hey Sven, did you get my e-mail? We must live pretty near to each other....

Edited by - mshane on 10/29/2002 09:31:52

Rut or no rut - all I know is - with this cold front coming in (high of 38 low of 21 on Saturday) I know where my butt is going to be Saturday morning. God I love this time of year!
I'm still seeing buck in bachelor groups and does with yearlings. I am starting to see some scrape and rub activity. I haven't witnessed any chasing yet. I hunt in Macoupin County.

Opening morning downed a nice 9,he was running with 3 other bucks,
two 6's and a real nice palmated 10 or 12 pointer, wish i could have downed that one. Have one more permite to fill , for a buck anyway
maby i will see him this weekend, it is going to be in the 20's in
in the mornings they should start acting funny any time now.
GOOD LUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!


Randy Pearce

Hi. I have been hunting in Will County and have not seen much. Glad to hear the other posts. Next month I will also be hunting in Johnson County. Good luck to you all!

I've been seeing a lot of increasing activity as of late.

This past weekend in JoDaviess county my dad rattled in two 140-150 class 10 pointers, one to within 25 yards, but couldn't get any shooting. One of the bucks was eventually run off by an even BIGGER buck, probably somewhere in the 160-170+ class. He was too far off to tell exactly how big though.

Rubs and scrapes are definitely picking up though. One of my stands in JoDaviess county has between 10 and 12 rubs within 30 yards of it that just popped up over the last week or so.

A friend of mine saw a small 6 pointer trailing a doe with his nose to the ground as well. This was the same morning that the guys on the farm next to us shot the nice 10 pointer I've been watching and it ran right underneath my stand and died. Figures, eh?

I think this weekend the rut is really gonna start kicking in though. At least, I hope it will.

Edited by - Zarr on 10/30/2002 09:33:24

had alot of activity tonight, the deer were moving everywhere and witness buck chasing doe, had two bucks respond to my rattling, and seen two does on the move like they were being pushed, and heard some grunting in the woods. I came out empty but could of had a small six pointer if i wanted. things are starting to happen, i have a two deer limit here in Piatt county and am waiting for that nice bruiser to walk past. ya all need to be in the woods whenever possible now and you wil start to see what i mean. things are happening <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> good luck.

It looks like things are right on schedule in some areas, with other areas not showing the same thing.

According to the IL biologists peak breeding should be Nov 10-20. There, I gave you FREE Rut Dates for IL!!!!

If breeding actually starts about a month before &quot;peak breeding&quot; (as many deer studies show) and if scraping kicks into high gear about 2 weeks before &quot;peak breeding&quot; (as many studies show) and if breeding and scraping can run late becuse of low dominant buck to doe ratios (as many deer studies show), then it looks like things are about as expected for this time of year.

But, if the second full moon after the fall equinox on Sept. 21 triggers peak breeding (as some suggest, with peak breeding 5-7 days after the full moon) then peak breeding should either occur on Oct 26 or Nov 25; depending on whether or not you count the full moon on Sept 21 (the fall equiox) as the first or second full moon after the fall eqinox. One sounds kind of early, the other sounds kind of late.

Either way it doesn't look too good for the moon theories, does it? I'm betting on the biologists, not the theorists.

T.R.

T.R. Michels

TR, Just for clarification, one popular lunar theorist who we've been discussing pegs the first NEW moon after the Full moon you reference for peak breeding. He has pegged 11-1 through about 11-7 as peak breeding for this fall. I'll be you a dollar to a donut he finds enough anecdotal evidence to support his theory in his first writings next late summer

I was just discussing with my old man and one of his hunting buddies this very subject. They are buying into the moon cycles and previous years rutting activity and saying that this weekend is gonna be the peak of the rut in full swing, so they both took friday off work and are making it a three day weekend.

Although I've been seeing a good amount of sign and a few bucks tailing does, I don't think its gonnat dramatically increase in the next three days. My money is on the weekend of the 9th-10th. I've already put my vacation request in for that Monday so I'll be taking my three day weekend when it counts the most while my dad is at home like a sucker! hehe.

Just went out today to see a bunch of newer rubs all over the place on some huge trees (im pretty excited). I haven't seen to much buck movement other than me spooking one out a day or so before season. Im thinking peak will be between 10-20th, sounds reasonable to me but you really never know with this weather being so cold. Alright if anyone in Northern IL Mchenry County area wants to swap a hunt i'd be glad to.

you start hunting and you suck, you keep doing it till you dont suck